Hunt's Attempt to Hit For The Cycle Leads Aggies

GREENSBORO (March 3, 2017) – Seven North Carolina A&T baseball players had multiple-hit games including redshirt sophomore A.J. Hunt’s quest for hitting for the cycle as the Aggies defeated Mount Saint Mary’s 14-7 Friday evening in the first game of a three-game series at War Memorial Stadium over the weekend.

N.C. A&T (5-4), who is in the middle of a nine-game homestand, is 4-1 on the stand thus far. Their only loss was a game that ended in the eighth inning because of inclement weather with the Aggies trailing 3-2. Hitting has been behind the Aggies success at home. They are averaging 12.6 runs per game at home to go along with a .385 team batting average and a .510 slugging percentage at WMS.

Within the 17 hits the Aggies posted on Friday, five were doubles, two were home runs and there was a triple. Adan Ordonez, Myles Sowell, Brandon Melendez, Dawnoven Smith, Greg White and Kyle Clary had two-hit games. Hunt led the way by going 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three RBI.

Hunt opened his day with a three-run homer in the second inning. He then hit a triple off the center-field wall in the third inning before a double to right center field led to another Aggies run in the seventh. He came up in the eighth needing a single for the cycle. Instead he hit a groundball that went between the legs of shortstop Patrick Causa for an error, ending his bid for the cycle.

The missed hitting for the cycle was about the only thing that went wrong for the Aggies offensively. By the second inning, the Aggies had already chased away Mount starter Seth Schubert with a seven-run second. The Aggies entered their half of the fourth with an 8-2 lead as White looked to add to that by opening the inning with a double. One batter later, Ordonez brought White home with his second home run of the season, a fly ball that kept getting pushed by the wind until it was over the right-center field wall.

The Mount (0-5) did post three runs in the fifth to cut the Aggies lead to 10-5. N.C. A&T built back their huge lead in the seventh as Hunt’s double led to a Melendez RBI single to right. Melendez moved into scoring position by stealing second and moving to third on a throwing error Will Enrico. Sowell brought Melendez home with an RBI single through the left side.

A double to left-center by Greg Smith led to another Aggies run as Sowell scored. N.C. A&T’s lead grew to 14-5 as Smith stole third and benefited from another Enrico bad throw as Enrico threw the ball wide right of third base into left field to allow White to score.

Betances (2-1), who surrendered two runs in the first inning, got the win. He posted seven strikeouts, walked four batters Causa’s two-run RBI double off Betances gave The Mount an early 2-0 lead. Schubert (0-2) took the loss.

N.C. A&T returns to action against Mount Saint Mary’s at WMS on Saturday at 3 p.m.